In case you are interested:
University of Toronto/McMaster University Numata Buddhist Studies Program Presents:
Will Tuladhar-Douglas
(University of Aberdeen)
Lecture, Co-hosted by the Centre for South Asian Studies at the Asian Institute:
A Buddhist anthropology of Newar religion: Gaṇeśa, his mount, and their landscape
Monday, Nov 30, 2009
6-8 pm
Munk Centre, North House, 108 N
1 Devonshire Place
Register online at: http://webapp.mcis.utoronto.ca/EventDetails.aspx?eventid=8427
A recurring problem in trying to understand Newar Buddhism is the nature, more generally, of Newar religion: how do Hinduism and Buddhism interact? If we approach the problem through Newar Buddhist philosophy, or through Newar narratives, practices and iconography it becomes clear that the very notion of religious tradition, embedded in Western theories of syncretism, is itself the stumbling block. The Newar Gaṇeśa (or Ināya) — necessary to Newar daily rituals, life cycle rituals, and the organization of urban space — holds the key to an anti-essentialist, relational understanding of ‘religion’. In this talk I will show not just how the study of Gaṇeśa frees us from the chains of syncretism, but also that a small but significant difference—between a shrew and a rat—in the iconography of the regional ‘Hindu’ Gaṇeśa and the Newar Ināya allows us to trace Newar awareness of their distinctive inclusive ritual praxis back at least to the 15th century. --
For more on Buddhist Studies at the University of Toronto, see http://chass.utoronto.ca/buddhiststudies/
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